8 ADDiiEss OF THE EDITOR. [January, 



question about the moderate views promulgated by their advo- 

 cates. Their claims have been urged clearly and briefly^ in order 

 that their distinctness may be tested by the observation and 

 knowledge of others. Their distinctive characters are contrasted, 

 and the readers or judges are left to draw their own conclusions. 

 All that need be said here is that the pages of the ' Phytologist ' 

 are at the service of those who reject or disown these novelties, 

 as they have been open to those who have temperately urged their 

 claims on the attention of our readers. 



During the past season a few plants have to be recorded, seen 

 at Wandsworth steam-boat pier, certainly a British station, and 

 if the plants are not British, they grow on British soil, at Bat- 

 tersea, Chelsea, and Parson's Green. These are all importations, 

 whatever be their status in the national Flora of Great Britain. 



The first place is given to Lathyrus tuberosus, of which only 

 one plant was seen, and was not recognized then, but, as has been 

 stated already in the ' Phytologist,' vol. iv. p. 318, was taken up 

 and replanted in the garden ; and when the report of the discovery 

 of the species at Fyfield, near Ongar, in Essex, reached Chelsea, 

 the Wandsworth plant was examined, and it proved to be this 

 interesting species. We expect an historical account of this 

 plant as a true Briton for a future number of this journal. 



Several other plants have been detected in the above localities, 

 though notices of only a few have as yet appeared. Their non- 

 appearance has been caused rather by want of room than want 

 of material. It is believed to be good policy to prefer contri- 

 butions from distant correspondents, to editorial communica- 

 tions; — to cause the latter to make way for the former. The 

 Editor is expected to be more tolerant of delay than contributors. 

 But his articles on this subject, though deferred, are not lost ; as 

 the French say about an expected pleasure, " Un plaisir differe 

 n'est pas perdu." 



The new stations observed for rare plants, and communicated 

 for the first time, during the past year, are numerous and im- 

 portant ; they are so many that this part of our report must be 

 epitomized, or it would fill more of our space than can be con- 

 veniently spared. 



The most important discovery in local botany is that of Son- 

 chus palustris in Plumstead marshes. The species is by common 

 consent admitted to be one of the very rarest of rare British 



